Hi Venantius Ever so well said below that I can't resist this GoaNet post. Venantius, may I suggest that you could add one more point in your key first paragraph below. Belief in and practice of caste is ipso facto racist and of course, racism is abhorred in any civilised society let alone a Christian one. That the Catholic Church in Goa has been complicit in it for half a millennium and that so many of the clergy across its hierarchy in Goa and the Goan Diaspora uphold this foul creed and never say anything against it surely doesn't say much about the integrity of this religion. And Vasant, if interested, please see GoaNet archives where I have, over six years at least, written extensively and critically on several dimensions of caste among the Catholic Goans. I have also done so elsewhere and continue to do so. Cornel DaCosta
________________________________ From: Venantius J Pinto <venantius.pi...@gmail.com> To: goanet@lists.goanet.org Sent: Wednesday, 11 August, 2010 22:35:59 Subject: Re: [Goanet] Caste and Creed in Goa Dear Vasant, Christians must not practice caste. Period. THEY MUST NOT/SHOULD NOT in professed egalitarian spirit-have anything to do with caste. This is true, and complex as may become more apparent by the end of this post. The charm of most system is they inherently involve exogamy and endogamy; although remarkably not exclusive Of course people do not wish to loose their sense of belonging, and others want/seek parity and even benign equality, They cannot deal with the idea of being Outcast themselves, but the idea of knowing where they stand as in Tum Konnalo is admirably ingenious don't you think? Most of the are from reasonably superior stock anyways. Besides the Hindus do not need this except for deeper specifics. I lived with a Hindu family for five year, and Baba would say, te vihirintle pav kha'un bhatle gele, but considered me as part of the family. An outsider who had come in, > From: Vasant Baliga <vabal...@yahoo.com> > To: Goanet <goanet@lists.goanet.org> > Subject: [Goanet] Caste and Creed in Goa > (del) > How can the caste system be practised by followers of Jesus-it foxes me (del)